Intraperitoneal chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.

Vol. 39, No. 4, July 2012 • Oncology Nursing Forum O varian cancer remains an uncommon cancer compared to other female malignancies, such as breast, lung, and colon cancer. However, ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among all gynecologic malignancies and the second most prevalent of the reproductive cancers (Siegel, Naishadham, & Jemal, 2012). According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network ([NCCN], 2012b), the standard of care for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) consists of an IV platinum and taxane-based chemotherapy for 6–8 cycles, or combination IV and intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy for patients with stage II or III cancer who have had optimally debulked (less than 1 cm residual) surgery (see Figure 1). The Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) conducted a randomized, phase III trial, GOG 172 (Armstrong et al., 2006), that compared IP chemotherapy to IV chemotherapy and reported a median overall survival of 65.6 months in the IP group compared to 49.7 months for women receiving IV chemotherapy. As a result, the National Cancer Institute ([NCI], 2006) issued a clinical bulletin suggesting that all women with stage III EOC who have undergone optimal cytoreductive surgery should be considered for IP chemotherapy because of statistically significant improvement in overall survival.